Blue Mountains News

Slow Food Blue Mountains (SFBM) invites our dynamic Blue Mountains community to get involved with their Creating Solutions Campaign around the central theme… LET’S GET MEAT OFF CENTRE PLATE!

Phase 1

Eat Local, 10 Fruit and Veg a Day

Great for community health, great for our planet and much kinder to animals! SFBM invite the community to aim to eat local Australian-grown fresh produce. Strive for 10 veg a day (include 1-2 pieces of fruit in this). Sadly only 7% of Australians eat 5 veg and 2 fruit a day currently recommended in this country. Other countries, including France recommend 10 veg a day, while in Japan, 13 vegies a day is recommended.

General consensus is the more vegetables we can eat a day the better. In this great meat eating nation of ours, meat consumption has been steadily increasing over the last 20 years, making us a hefty contributor to climate change (around 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions are due to industrial animal production and ever-higher meat consumption). According to FAO, global meat consumption has alarmingly increased fivefold since the mid 1950s with a projected doubling by 2050.

Phase 2

Australian Pulses

Pulsing with Life: “Cooking Up Solutions for Change”

Include pulses in your diet! Help support Australia’s pulse producers, too! These nitrogen-fixing, little “powerhouses” are cheap and versatile and packed with protein. For better value, purchase Australian-grown pulses in bulk at the local Blue Mountains Food Co-op in Katoomba.

During this phase SFBM invite you – if still eating meat / fish / pork / chicken – to substitute pulses for meat or eat meat in smaller portions. At the end of this phase, you might be interested in adopting a more plant based diet or reducing your meat intake, because of your new found confidence in using a variety of vegetables, pulses and fruit.

If you are a food-related small business in the Blue Mountains putting Australian-grown pulses on the menu, contact Slow Food Blue Mountains to be added to their "We're Lentil As Anything Foodie Trail", currently under construction, for FREE!